Tips to Avoid Generic AI Content

Many leaders on LinkedIn sound the same. AI made it worse. If you're just blending in, you're probably losing trust. I know because I made this mistake. 8 months ago, I started using ChatGPT for LinkedIn posts. The output was fast. It was also lifeless. No engagement. I rebuilt my entire approach. I stopped treating AI like a content vending machine and started treating it like a junior writer who needed to learn my voice. Here are 8 ways to leverage AI for LinkedIn content while keeping your voice intact: 1/ Build a Voice Document Before You Write a Single Prompt Most people open ChatGPT and start typing. That's backwards. Before you ask AI to write anything, create a document that captures how you actually communicate: → 10-15 of your best-performing posts (copy the full text) → Your sentence rhythm (short and punchy? Long and flowing?) → How you start posts (questions? Bold statements? Stories?) → How you end posts (CTA style, sign-off patterns) This becomes your "brand bible." 2/ Create Custom AI Tools Trained on Your Voice Generic ChatGPT produces generic content. Custom GPTs, Claude Projects, and Gemini Gems let you bake your voice into the tool itself. Pre-load each one with your voice doc, 20 example posts, and strict instructions on tone (at a minimum). The setup takes 30 minutes. The payoff is permanent. 3/ Feed It Your Actual Writing Don't describe your voice. Demonstrate it. → Upload real emails you've sent → Paste transcripts from talks you've given → Include Slack messages that capture your casual tone AI learns from examples, not instructions. Give it the raw material. 4/ Use the 80/20 Rule: AI Drafts, You Finish AI writes the first 80%. You do the last 20%. Never publish AI output without a human pass. Not because AI is bad but because AI is generic until you make it specific. 5/ Create a "Do Not Use" List Every AI model has favorite words. They're usually the same words everyone else's AI is using. Build a banned list and enforce it. Add this list to your custom GPT instructions. Tell the AI: "Never use these words. If you're tempted to use them, find a more specific alternative." 6/ Read It Out Loud Before You Post Read your AI-assisted post out loud. If it doesn't sound like something you'd say in a conversation, rewrite it. Your voice probably has something AI doesn't: → Incomplete sentences → Casual transitions The out-loud test catches what your eyes miss. 7/ Anchor Every Post in a Specific Experience Generic AI content happens when you give generic prompts. "Write a post about leadership" produces garbage. "Write a post about the time I canceled three 1:1s in a row and lost my best employee" produces something real. The more specific your input, the more specific your output. People don't follow generic advice. They follow specific voices. Train your AI. Protect your voice. Stand out. Get a high-res pdf of the infographic: https://lnkd.in/gCEkWjjg Save this for future reference.

At this point, we can all spot AI copy a mile away. It starts with grand declarations (“In today’s digital landscape”) and ends with clunky signposts like “In conclusion.” Readers tune out the second they see those tells. If you want your writing to sound like it came from a human mind (like yours), you need to know the AI junk to avoid and what to use instead. 1. Skip the “big sweeping” intros. AI loves to start with grand statements like “In today’s digital landscape” or “Since the dawn of the internet.” But people don’t talk like that. Instead, drop readers right into the problem or question they care about. (That's good practice in general! Get to the good stuff immediately.) 2. Avoid fake urgency and clichés. Phrases like “Technology is advancing at a rapid pace” or “In this age of digital transformation” are meaningless filler. If the pace of evolution really matters, demonstrate it with data or a concrete example. 3. Skip the warm-up. Phrases like “This article will explore…” or “Here are some tips” just delay the real value. Junior writers (and AI) often fall into this "narration trap." Cut the intro. Start with the point. A clear first sentence is stronger (and more respectful of your reader’s time). 4. Stop saying “Let’s dive in." People rarely say that outside of AI copy. If you need a transition, be specific: “Now let's set this up in AWS.” 5. Watch out for formulaic comparisons. Phrases like “AI is not just a tool, it’s a revolution” or “X is not just Y, it’s Z” scream template. Reframe in plain language: “AI helps with grunt work, but you can also use it to help shape your strategy.” 6. Don’t list your entire audience. AI defaults to “Whether you’re a junior developer or a CTO…” Skip the roll call. Write to one clear audience, their challenges and experiences, and trust they’ll recognize themselves. 7. Quit being Captain Obvious. “It’s no secret that cybersecurity is important.” No kidding! No one thinks that's a secret. Instead, get specific: “Most breaches still start with stolen passwords.” 8. Anchor big ideas in real-world detail. Instead of saying “Cloud computing has fascinated businesses for decades,” show the shift: “Netflix used to mail DVDs. Now it runs on AWS.” The choice is simple: write bilge, or write helpful content that gets read. "Let's dive in!" 😁

You give AI a prompt? It writes like everyone else. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗜 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂: 𝟭/ 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝟭𝟬 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗜𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀 How you structure ideas. How you transition between thoughts. AI learns patterns from examples. Not from rules about your style. → Past work is better than style guides. 𝟮/ 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲'𝘀 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲 How you describe what you do. Which benefits you emphasize. This is your positioning in your words. → Approved messaging prevents off-brand outputs. 𝟯/ 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗴 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲 Your actual writing voice. Not what you think your voice is. → Examples teach better than descriptions. 𝟰/ 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀 The tone that actually works for you. Not the tone you wish worked. → Proven messaging beats aspirational messaging. 𝟱/ 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀 How others describe your value. Language your market actually uses. → Customer language keeps you grounded. 𝟲/ 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆'𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗳𝘀 What you stand for. What you're against. → Opinions differentiate generic from specific. 𝟳/ 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘀, 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲 Target customer details. What you sell and for how much. → Facts eliminate hallucinations. 𝟴/ 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗼𝗻 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿 FAQ page content. Questions from discovery calls. → Recurring questions reveal priorities. 𝟵/ 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Employee handbook. Onboarding materials. Process documents. → Onboarding docs contain positioning gold. 𝟭𝟬/ 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 Sentence length limits. Words you never use. Formatting rules. → Constraints create consistency. AI isn't psychic. It only knows what you tell it. Most people give AI nothing. Then wonder why outputs are generic. Give it your actual work. You'll get outputs that sound like you. Building the profile takes 2 hours. Then every piece of content after is better. Invest the time once. ♻️ Repost if context determines quality. ➕ Follow me, Louis Shulman, for more tactics to stay top of mind and beat the competition. 📧 Join our weekly marketing newsletter: https://lnkd.in/gYGzEeTb

I wasted an hour trying to get a decent course outline from an AI this week. The results were generic, bland, and useless. Then I had a thought: I was treating it like a search engine, not a team member. So I tried something different. The result was a brilliant outline in 5 minutes. Here's the secret: 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝗻𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗔𝗜. Most people use AI with one-off commands and get frustrated with the generic output. They're missing the most important step. A better approach: Treat AI like a smart, but clueless, new hire. ❌ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲: Asking "Create an outline for a leadership course." This invites generic junk. ✅ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆: Spend 10 minutes "training" it on YOUR context before you ask for anything. 📖 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 '𝗼𝗻𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴' 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗔𝗜 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲: ▶️ Feed it your company's tone and voice guide. ▶️ Give it your proprietary instructional design framework. ▶️ Provide an example of a past successful project outline. ▶️ Define your target audience persona in detail. Only THEN do you give it the task. The result: AI stops being a generic tool and starts being your creative partner. It learns your rules, your style, and your learners. It gives you a tailored starting point that's 80% of the way there. Your expertise provides the final 20%. ✍️ 𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗟 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗠𝗣𝗧: You are an expert Instructional Design assistant. Your primary goal is to help me create effective and engaging learning experiences that reflect my specific methodology and style. Before we begin, I am going to provide you with three critical documents: 1. My proprietary L&D framework, The [Your Framework Name]. 2. Our company's official Tone and Voice Guide. 3. A detailed persona for our primary learner. Your first task is to read, analyze, and fully internalize these three documents. Do not do anything else. When you have finished, confirm by saying "Ready. I have ingested the [Framework Name], the style guide, and the learner persona." [Paste your framework here] [Paste your style guide here] [Paste your learner persona here] 𝗜 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝘀.

Stop using AI to write your LinkedIn posts. Use it to find your voice instead. I can spot an AI-generated executive post in seconds. So can your prospects. If you use generic prompts, you sound like everyone else.   Actually, you sound like AI.   Bland. Forgettable. This isn't just an aesthetic problem. It's creating a sales problem. Generic content creates zero differentiation. Zero trust. Zero qualified conversations. Here's how to use AI differently: 1. Use AI to extract your insights, not replace them.        Instead of "Write me a post about leadership," try "Interview me about my tech philosophy and highlight what makes it different from conventional approaches."     2. Feed it your actual words first.    Record yourself talking about a topic for 2 minutes. Get a transcript. Then ask AI to "Turn this into a 1000 character LinkedIn post while preserving my voice, style and unique perspectives."     3. Challenge it to find your contrarian angle.    For example, "What would most technology leaders say about this issue? Now review our prior conversations and help me articulate why I disagree."     4. Build a voice guide.    Document your specific phrases, analogies, and communication style. Reference it in your prompts.     5. Edit ruthlessly.    The first draft should never be the final one. Cut anything that doesn't sound like you would actually say it. (and cut out the AI-isms)     Even the busiest executives can create distinctive content this way in under 15 minutes. The leaders who get consistent leads from LinkedIn aren't the ones with the most polished content. They're the ones whose content is immediately recognizable as their own. AI should amplify your voice, not replace it. What's your biggest challenge in creating content that actually sounds like you?

I just got YET another thank-you email 📧 from a candidate that was clearly a direct copy-paste from ChatGPT.... And that just reminded me that… …a key part of GenAI literacy is understanding when and when not to use AI-generated output: Use GenAI too sparingly, and you miss out on (potential) efficiency gains (which are huge especially for ESL folks); overuse it, and you risk losing your unique voice. I’ve chatted with a few folks on this topic and wanted to share eight tips for writing authentically while using GenAI: 1️⃣ Motivation: This one might seem odd, but I find that I do need a little inspiration and reminder not to rely on these tools too much. Sometimes, it's tempting to settle for "good enough" output from ChatGPT, but then I remember the reason I write. Is it to churn out unoriginal content, or did I start writing online to connect with others through my words? 2️⃣ Cultural References: Incorporating cultural references, idioms, and expressions relevant only to your audience and topic can make your text more much more relatable. AI is unlikely to grasp these nuances, which can help your content stand out in a sea of generic synthetic material. 3️⃣ Fine-tune the AI Model: Feed your writing into the model and ask it to mimic your style, voice, and tone. For a shortcut, you might even ask it to define your tone of voice based on your text. But remember to still check the output. 4️⃣ No Shortcuts: Avoid relying on "AI humanizers," which can produce content that still feels inauthentic. Nothing beats your own proofreading to ensure your voice remains authentic. 5️⃣ Use Active Voice: AI-generated text often defaults to passive voice, leading to weaker, less engaging content. Opt for an active voice to make your writing more direct and engaging (and clearly distinguishable from AI-generated stuff). 6️⃣ Vary Your Sentence Structure: AI often relies on patterns and may repeat similar sentence structures, leading to monotonous content. Try mixing short, snappy sentences with longer, more descriptive ones. This captures readers attention and conveys complex ideas better than the monotonous AI-generated-pattern-heavy writing. 7️⃣ Check for Formulaic Language: Be wary of predictable phrases. Not sure why but a lot of ChatGPT responses I get start with “in the realm of.” This, of course, adds no value and can make your writing appear cliché. Keep an eye out for such formulas. 8️⃣ Editing and Proofreading: It may seem obvious, but after using AI to generate text, always edit and proofread. Never let AI output go unchecked. Especially if you’re sending thank-you emails 😏 We're developing lessons on this very topic, but I wanted to share some preliminary thoughts! Just remember: People want to hear from YOU! #edtech #edtechstartup #GenAI #AIupskilling

Cyrus Shepard (16+ years experience, former head of SEO at Moz) just revealed that AI optimization now makes up 30% of his consulting work. That was 0% in January. By December, he expects 70 to 80%. Here is the full playbook he is using with clients right now: 1. Audit your content by type E-commerce and service content is holding strong. Informational blog content is getting destroyed. Cyrus says if AI can write the article without proprietary knowledge, that is the content seeing declines. Sort your site into three buckets: • Transactional (product pages, services) safe • Informational with unique data (case studies, research) can survive • Generic informational (standard blogs) dying Focus on the first two. 2. Add proprietary elements AI cannot replicate Cyrus tells every client the same thing. Your content needs elements AI cannot generate. Examples: • Webinar libraries • Interviews • Custom data visuals • Proprietary business info • Firsthand experience with photos One attorney client added “expert in X, recognized by Y” on their homepage. AI Overview citations improved almost immediately because AI could read the expertise signals. 3. Optimize your homepage for AI parsing Most people ignore the homepage. That is a mistake now. Cyrus found that putting “about us” content directly on the homepage with clear expertise signals helps AI extract information fast. Make sure it clearly shows: • What you are an expert in • Who recognizes it • Credentials • Services or products Do not make AI guess. 4. Track AI visibility, not just rankings Cyrus runs weekly AI visibility reports using tools like Gumshoe AI. These tools ask thousands of questions to AI search engines and track how often your brand appears. You need to know: • How often you appear • Sentiment of mentions • Which competitors show up instead • What content types get cited Rank tracking alone is not enough anymore. 5. Accept the automation paradox Social media tells you to automate everything with AI. Google devalues automated AI content. Cyrus says the content rising right now and earning links is the content that is not automated. Use AI to assist, not replace. Curation matters more than production. 6. Prepare for Google’s quality rater changes Google told raters to identify AI generated content. Ranking impacts could hit soon. If your content reads like AI with no human touch, you are at risk. 7. Focus on images and detailed how tos Generic text articles are struggling. Content with visuals and step by step processes still performs. Visual explanation survives AI summarization better. Users still click through for detailed guides. 8. Do not chase AI Overview appearances blindly Cyrus called appearing in AI Overviews the most overhyped trend. There is almost no click through rate. He still helps clients appear there since there are few alternatives, but the value is mainly brand awareness, not traffic. Set expectations accordingly.

Your competitors are all saying the same thing because they're all using the same AI prompts. And if you're not careful, you're about to join them. Different companies. Different products. Same words: "AI-powered," "seamless," "intuitive," "transform the way you work." Cool. So does everyone else in your category. Here's the problem: ChatGPT doesn't know what makes your product different. It knows what makes SaaS products generically appealing. So when you ask it to write your homepage copy or positioning, you get the same vanilla output as your competitors. The AI content flood isn't just about blog posts. It's about positioning, messaging, and value props that all sound identical because they came from the same training data. The fix isn't better prompts. It's better strategy. 👉 Get brutally specific about who you serve. Not "B2B SaaS companies." Name 10 actual companies you're built for. 👉 Use language your actual customers use, not what sounds good in a prompt. 👉 If you want to really stand out, lead with what you *won't* do, not what you will. Constraints differentiate. 👉 Talk about the specific problem you solve, not generic outcomes everyone promises. AI can help you write faster. It can't tell you what makes you different. Only you know that. If your positioning could work on your competitor's website with a logo swap, it's not positioning. It's AI slop. How are you ensuring your messaging stays differentiated in an AI-saturated market? --- I love talking about marketing strategy and product marketing. If you’re running a marketing team, a founder, or a small business owner, let’s connect! I’m honestly just here to meet cool people and talk about nerdy marketing stuff. 🤓

How NOT to use AI for content: • Create content about what AI thinks your customers want/need to hear • Rely on AI’s training data for the substance of your content • Give minimal instruction on your desired writing style • Try ChatGPT a few months ago, get bad output, assume models won’t improve • Spend hours editing because you didn’t provide your style instructions and unique POVs from the start That’s fully “AI-Generated” content. Don’t do that. Your content will be generic and robotic. Make “AI-Executed” content instead. Here’s what humans need to do to make AI-Executed content that’s actually good: • Develop your content strategy based on your marketing strategy and company goals • Gain unique insights about your customers that aren’t in LLMs’ training data • Give AI your original POVs to write about (e.g. via voice recordings) • Provide clear and specific writing style instructions • Use the latest and greatest model (that’s Claude 3.5 for now) • Edit for a few minutes (not a few hours) before publishing Creating great content entails more than just physically writing. Today’s models are best for the writing part. But that does save a lot of time and money. And Claude has gotten pretty good at it. Humans need to do the rest though. Think of AI as a freelance writer, not a Head of Content. The old content workflow doesn’t translate one to one to an AI workflow. You need to decouple the thinking from the writing. And like other tools, you need to learn how to use it. I hope this post helps provide some nuance about about different ways to use AI for content. Saying you used AI for content is like saying you did marketing. It's not specific enough. There are a lot of ways to do marketing, and to use AI for content.

Most leaders I work with are not asking if they should use AI. They are asking how to stay human while they do. Leaders know AI can help them move faster and reach more people. They are just afraid of sounding like everyone else. And they should be. AI generated content is exploding. At the same time, trust in generic communication is dropping and people are asking for clearer and more authentic messages from leaders and brands. The good news is, the research is on your side. Studies from Nielsen Norman Group show that people remember coherent stories far more than isolated facts. In a world filled with AI output, what sticks is not perfection. It is point of view. Which means you have to have one. In today’s episode of Badass Softie, I talk about a simple shift: AI creates. You curate. Your job is to bookend the work that AI does. You curate what goes in and you curate what comes out. On the front end, you need a clear message. You need to feed AI your stories and your lived experience. On the back end, you edit until it sounds like you and actually says something that makes your brand stand out. So how do you keep your content human as AI gets louder? 1) Use personal stories. AI can give you five tips for Q4. Only you can tell the moment that changed your leadership or the project that taught you something real. Story moves people into connection, and that is where trust begins. 2) Offer paradigm shifts. Step into the conversation everyone is having and turn the camera a few degrees. Most people say “finish the year strong.” You might say “finishing strong starts with removing what is draining you.” You are not trying to be contrarian. You are naming what you have actually seen. 3) Make sure your message is clear. Know who you serve, what problem you solve and how you stand out. Clear messaging lets AI actually sound like you instead of everyone else. This is the work I do with clients every day. If you want a place to start this week: -Pick one story from your life and connect it to your work. -Name one paradigm shift you believe your industry needs. -Identify the problem your brand solves and talk about it. Give all of that to AI on the front end and edit with it in mind on the back end. AI will keep creating more content. Your job is to keep curating your voice. You do not need to be louder. You need to be more you. Listen to Badass Softie wherever you get your podcasts. If your business needs help clarifying its message so your AI content actually sounds human, reach out. This is the work I love doing. #AIcopywriting #stayinghuman